BLISS

by A. R. Breck

  "Mercy." I jolt awake and the sound comes much clearer. Wiping my cheek for drool, I sit up and take an inventory of my surroundings. Large, aged trees surround an upscale neighborhood. The houses have sizable yards and each one is cut perfectly with their diagonal lines. The flower beds lining each yard are so well maintained you would almost have to assume there is a gardening company that comes to maintenance the neighborhood.

  It’s not those cookie-cutter neighborhoods where the yards are about five feet in each direction. These yards are large, sprawling, and immaculately kept.

  The driveway we are parked in is long and wide, leading up to a three-car garage and a large two-story home. The front of the home is covered in brick, much like many of the other homes on this street. The front of the house has a nice porch near the front door with some rocking chairs placed to the side.

  "Is your wife home?" Is the first thing that pops in my head when I see the rocking chairs. Only women sit in rocking chairs on a porch.

  He frowns and looks at his house. "Oh. Another thing I guess I didn't tell you. She passed away a few years ago. Pancreatic cancer." His low voice gives off a such a sad lilt to it that I can tell he's never gotten over her.

  "I'm so sorry." Death is something we all have to deal with, yet we never should have to.

  His gaze focuses back on me. "It's okay. Enough of the sad talk, let's get you inside so I can show you around. Sound like a plan?"

  Nerves fill me like a balloon. "Sure." I breathe out on a shaky breath.

  He pats my arm like he can smell my fear. "Don’t be scared. You'll do fine."

  We hop out and grab my bags, and then walk into the grand foyer of his home. A large table sits in the entrance with some glass bowls and a sign that says, 'Welcome to the Reids'. A staircase curls off to the left and leads up to what I'm sure are the bedrooms.

  After we toe off our shoes, Dave leads me straight instead of heading upstairs, and we end up in a large kitchen with all the fancy upgrades. A marble top island sits in the middle. Dark cabinetry lines the walls and a double stacked oven on one side of the kitchen, and on the other side sits a huge stainless-steel refrigerator. I read the label. Viking appliances. Yeesh, even sounds expensive.

  "So, this is the kitchen. Please feel free to grab anything if you ever feel hungry. Do you cook?"

  I shrug, "Mac and cheese?" I let out an awkward laugh and he smiles at me.

  "You sound like us. We do a lot of takeout around here. I guess that's what happens when it's a bunch of guys. We'll have to cook more. This kitchen has been going to waste the last couple years." He leads me to the left to the living room with a massive sectional couch and a large smart TV mounted on the wall.

  "This is the living room. The TV has Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, just about everything, actually." He laughs as we continue our walk through a formal dining room which he says never gets sat in except for the holidays. He then walks me past an office and then up the stairs to the bedrooms.

  At the top of the stairs on the right side of the hall he points to a closed door. "My room is in there, and over here is Aric's room," He says as we walk down the left side of the hall, “and here is his bathroom." I take a quick peek in Aric's room and see a classic boy's room. Football posters line the walls and a dark navy bedspread covers his bed. He also has a desk which is the messiest part of his room, filled with junk and a few shirts hang off his chair.

  We walk down a little further and he points to a bedroom on the other side. "Here is Aeron's room." He leaves it at that, and unfortunately, I can't do any snooping because the door is closed.

  "And here... is your room." He shows me to an open door and when I look inside, I see a basic queen bed, dresser, nightstand and TV mounted to the wall. "Sorry, there's not much to it. But it's clean and I had Aric swap out the sheets this morning." Aric made my bed? Shit, I can't imagine he was happy to do that. I know I wouldn't be.

  "You have a jack and jill bath that connects to Aeron's room, but it shouldn't be a problem with him gone. You will have it all to yourself." We both walk in and set my bags down on the ground. "Aric told me he would be around so he could meet you. He might be down in the basement. Want to go check it out? We've got a pretty nice media room down there."

  I give a nod and follow him downstairs back into the kitchen. I notice a door I didn’t see before off to the side near one of the bathrooms. When he opens it, we walk down carpet covered stairs and I instantly hear noises.

  Noises. Plural.

  When we round the corner, it's then that I notice the fully finished basement. Couches, a few theatre style chairs and a large TV makes up the room. A few gaming systems are hooked up in front of the TV, which is what the four guys in front of me are playing.

  Dave clears his throat and the boys turn around, instantly hitting pause on their game and zoning in on me.

  My face flames.

  "Aric. Boys." He nods at them. "Aric, this is Mercy." As if they've had enough conversations about me that that's all that needs to be said.

  This is Mercy. The orphan. Our new pet.

  He stands, and it's then I realize how big of a guy he is. It makes sense, him being a quarterback on the football team. His muscular arms fill out his shirt and his basketball shorts mold to his thighs perfectly. As he walks over to me, his wavy brown hair flops over his ears like the golden boy I'm sure he is. His teeth, perfectly white and straight, nearly blind me when he smiles at me. His crystal blue eyes sparkle with a playfulness I wasn’t expecting out of him.

  "Mercy. Nice to meet you. I'm Aric." He reaches a hand out, and I take it, letting him do all the work.

  His grip is strong as he shakes my hand, but it’s the feeling of my hand in his that throws me off course.

  A zip of electricity shoots through my fingers, and by the way his eyes widen slightly, I can tell he feels the same way. He releases my hand, and I instantly step back, giving him a half, slightly off smile.

  "Nice to meet you, too."

  He scratches the back of his neck, seeming uneasy and not sure what to say. "Do you want to hang out with us? We can… do something else." He asks, and his tone is so genuine I almost say yes.

  But when I look behind him at his friends, my nerves get the best of me.

  "Um, that's okay. I better go unpack."

  He nods his head, his hair swaying back and forth with each tilt. "Cool. I'll, uh, catch you later then?"

  "Sure."

  Aric walks back to his friends and they start up the video games like I was never here. I follow Dave back up the stairs and the last thing I hear before I shut the door is one of his friends saying, "She's hot."

  "Sorry about them. I didn't know Aric was going to have friends over. I probably should have told him before I left and..."

  I put a hand up. "Hey, I'm fine. Really. Kind of beat. Maybe a little hungry?" I squint my eyes. I hate feeling like I can't ask for food. But I didn't eat before I met with Mr. Lawyer, so I haven't eaten at all today. It feels like my stomach is caving in on itself.

  "You and me both, kid. Let me order something for tonight. This weekend we can hit up the grocery store and get something that actually has nutritional value, all right?"

  "Sounds good." I start walking up to my room but stop when I pass the kitchen again. Looking out the sliding glass door, I see a huge pool glistening in the evening sun and it looks absolutely stunning.

  "Are you a swimmer?"

  "Yes." My eyes are glued to the sparkling water. After today, dipping my toes into the pool and relaxing my muscles sounds the absolute best. But there is no way in hell I'm getting into a swimsuit when there are a bunch of guys downstairs that could walk past at any time.

  "Well, good. Use it anytime, Mercy. Anytime."

  I give him a nod and he walks over to his cell phone on the kitchen island to order some take out. I leave him to it and walk back up the stairs. Stopping in front of Aric's room again, I glance in at his boyish room and inhale the scent I smelled on him
downstairs. Woodsy with a bit of his dad's minty scent.

  Continuing on to my room, I stop in front of Aeron's door. Reaching out, I grab onto the handle about to turn the knob, but my nerves get the best of me at the last second and I let go of the handle and race into my room, shutting the door behind me.

  ~

  Hearing a knock on the door, I stop folding the pants I'm working on and go open the door.

  Aric stands there awkwardly with a sheepish smile on his face. "Hey, uh, sorry about earlier. My friends... they're, well, fucking idiots.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, my dad had to take a call, but the food just got here. Do you wanna go grab a bite while it's hot?"

  His low rumbly voice vibrates from his chest into the pit of my stomach, making warmth spread all over. "Oh. Sure." I peak behind me at the pile of clothes all over my bed. "I can just... take care of that later."

  I shut the bedroom door behind me and follow him down the stairs into the kitchen. On the kitchen island sits about twenty take out cartons of Chinese food.

  Pointing at the absurd amount of food, I ask, "Are your friends eating over, too?"

  He chuckles as he walks to grab a couple plates. "No. My dad didn't know what you like, so he got a little bit of everything." He shrugs.

  "Well, that was nice of him." Aric hands me a plate and we circle around the island like a buffet, taking a little out of each container.

  When I have my plate, I stand there in awkward silence for Aric to say something. Are we eating together? Do we eat in the kitchen? I'm not sure what the rules of eating on the furniture is, although, with all the junk food I saw in the basement earlier, I can imagine Dave isn't too strict in this house.

  Aric nods his head towards the living room. "Want to go see what's on TV?"

  I nod and follow him to the sectional, sitting on the far side thinking he's going to take the other. But, nope, he sits down right next to me and gets comfortable, kicking his feet up on the coffee table.

  "So, what do you like?" He shakes the remote in front of my face. "That trashy MTV reality bullshit?"

  My face turns red as I chew my bite. As a matter of fact, I do enjoy the old school Real World and NEXT, but I'm not about to tell him that. "Uh, no. Not really. I'll watch anything." I wipe the corner of my mouth and look away from his heavy stare.

  He's trying to read me. Too bad my book of a life is already shelved with dust gathering on the tops of the pages.

  Nothing to read here.

  "So, you won't mind if I put on NASCAR?"

  I wrinkle my nose slightly then school my features. "Go ahead." When he doesn't click on NASCAR that's highlighted on the TV guide, I look over at him and see him smirking at me.

  "What? Is there something on my face?" I wipe my mouth again, but no stray noodles or sesame seeds come off.

  "I saw that." He narrows his eyes.

  "Saw what?" I look around. What the hell is he talking about?

  “Your nose wrinkled up. You don't like NASCAR. That's okay if you don't like something, Mercy. I'm not going to hate you for disliking something."

  My face heats. It's unnerving that he can so easily read me. Maybe I am an open book.

  "Okay, I don't like NASCAR. I'm actually not into sports or anything, like at all."

  "Good. NASCAR fucking sucks." I widen my eyes and glance at him, letting out a bark of a laugh.

  He points at me with his fork. "Don't tell my dad you don't like football though. We're Vikings fans in this house."

  I nod my head and he lands on some true crime show. Now this is something I could get in to.

  When I finish my plate, Aric grabs it from my hands and brings it to the sink to rinse off and put in the dishwasher.

  When he walks back, I look up at him and say, "Thank you for taking care of my plate."

  He winks at me, "No problem, Mercy. Hey, by the way, interesting name. Mercy. Where'd it come from?"

  I roll my eyes and puff out a sigh. "It's lame."

  When he settles back into the couch, I swear he's a little bit closer than he was before. So close, I can smell his woodsy minty smell I smelt in his room earlier. My cheeks flame again. God, if he knew I was in his room I bet he would think I'm a total creep.

  "I doubt it. Come on, tell me." He leans in and I have to hold my breath, so I don't inhale him like a drug. That's what he smells like, an addicting, addicting drug.

  "Have you seen Full House?"

  "Uh huh." A small smirk starts growing into a huge smile, and I know he realizes exactly where I'm going with this.

  "My mom was like in love with Uncle Jesse. She said no matter if I'm a girl or a boy, she was going to name her baby Mercy. Thank God I'm a girl, because a boy with the name Mercy would just be embarrassing."

  “Have mercy.” Aric mimics Uncle Jesse’s voice, and it’s so spot on we both crack up laughing.

  Dave walks back a few minutes later and walks up to me. "Mercy, I'm so sorry. The call took so much longer then I was hoping. I really wanted to have dinner with you. Did you find something you liked? Was everything okay?"

  "God, Dad." Aric chuckles and rolls his eyes.

  "You shut up." Dave points at Aric and then looks back at me. "Sorry about dinner, Mercy."

  I shake my head at him. "No, Dave. It was delicious."

  "Oh, good. I'm going to head to the grocery store tomorrow morning and pick up some actual food. Let's all plan on dinner tomorrow night, okay?"

  "Okay."

  Dave's phone starts buzzing, and he looks at it, letting out a curse before looking up at me apologetically. "I'm sorry, Mercy. There is a crisis at the office. I'm going to grab some food and go finish the call. Are you okay here? Aric isn't being an annoying asshole or anything?" He winks at Aric and I smile at their joking relationship.

  "He's been fine." I smile at Aric and he gives me a funny look in return.

  My eyebrow wrinkles up in confusion. What did I say?

  Dave's phone silences and starts up again. "Shit. Okay, I've got to go take this. I'll see you tomorrow, Mercy. Please let me or Aric know if you need anything at all."

  "I will. Thanks."

  After Dave grabs himself a plate of food and answers his call, excusing himself and then it's back to just me and Aric. Although this time, it's complete silence.

  The air in the room is so much heavier than before.

  "So, just fine, eh?" He bumps shoulders with me, and I can feel my ears start to get hot. I swear if I touched them, my fingers would get singed. "I see how it is. I guess I'm going to have to work on my game a little better."

  "Your game?" I tilt my head towards him but keep my eyes glued to the TV screen. I have no idea what's on right now, but I'm too scared to see what kind of look is playing across his face.

  "Well, yeah. A pretty girl like you I can't be just fine with. I need to step it up." He bumps me in the shoulder again, and the spot where we connect starts to tingle from the contact.

  "Thanks... I guess." I run my fingers through my snarly hair. After a meeting with Mr. Lawyer, a long drive with Dave, unpacking, and then stuffing my face with Chinese food? Yeah, the last thing I feel is pretty. And coming from the star athlete? Shit.

  I feel like he’s just trying fuck with me or something.

  "I'm serious. You don't think so?" He moves into my line of sight, and his blue eyes connect with my blue ones.

  "I mean... I don't know. No one has really asked me that before." I shrug. My shoulder length blonde hair is thick, wavy and always a little messy. I think I'm pretty average all around, and I've never really been the most popular girl in school. I feel like my eyes are too big and my lips are too pouty.

  I’m not a Kardashian or anything. Just... average.

  "You're telling me that you didn't have guys lining up left and right at your old school to ask you out?" I grab onto the cushion beneath my leg to stop from fleeing to my room. I've had boyfriends, and I've even had the awkward and uncomfortable first time of sex with a senior when I wa
s a freshman.

  But no one has ever interrogated me or paid this close of attention to me as Aric is right now.

  "I...uh, no?"

  Fuck you, Mercy. You stupid tongue-tied idiot.

  "Well, wherever you went to school has a bunch of blind jackasses then. When school starts, you’re going to have every guy’s head turning your way." He shakes his head at himself, like he hates the thoughts he just presented to himself.

  I sigh at the thought of school. When my parents passed, it was springtime and I only had a month or two left. It was easy to stay back and finish school at home. The moment summer hit and I was told I couldn't stay at my friend’s house anymore, that's when shit went south. Luckily, it's still only the beginning of summer and I don't have to worry about starting for a couple months.

  Thank God.

  "Hey... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset." I look up at him with the sad eyes that I know are painted across my face.

  "No. I'm okay." I give him a smile to prove it, even if my voice doesn't show it.

  "So, I was thinking we could do something tomorrow? I can show you around town or something. I'm sure we can find something to do."

  "Oh, you don't have to do that. Really, I'm sure you have friends to hang out with or a girlfriend. Or football! You have football practice or something?" He pinches his lips together to hold in his laughter, and I realize how much of a damn lunatic I just sounded.

  "One, I don't have a girlfriend. Are you applying?" He barks out a laugh at my wide eyed and open-mouthed look. "Chill, I'm kidding. Two, it's summer. Don't really have football practice in the summer. Although, I do find some time to throw the ball around with my boys just to stay in shape." He narrows his eyes as he looks at me. "What, do you not want to hangout or something? You can just say so."

  "No! It's not that. I don't want to put you out or make you feel obligated to be my tour guide or something. I'm sure you have far better things to do."

  "If I didn't want to take you out, I wouldn't have offered. It’s that simple. So, tomorrow?"

  I hesitate. Of course, I want to have someone show me around town. More than that, I would really like to have someone here I can count on. It doesn't hurt that he's one of the most gorgeous guys I've ever seen.